Maine Turnpike Authority

Latest Articles

Will Bruce Poliquin make the ballot? I'm writing this before it's officially decided whether State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin qualified as a US Senate candidate for the Republican primary in June. By AL DIAMON | March 21, 2012

Everybody hates lobbyists A majority of respondents said being paid to convince elected officials how to vote is the world's least respectable occupation — except for actually being an elected official. By AL DIAMON | July 27, 2011

Confidential administration dossiers show governor is skilled at copying corporate and lobbyist wish lists Confidential administration dossiers show Governor Paul LePage crafted significant portions of his regulatory reform agenda by literally copying and pasting passages from the memos his staff received from corporate lobbyists and their clients, turning swaths of it into little more than a set of giveaways to favored companies. By COLIN WOODARD | July 20, 2011

Conservative commute Every day, thousands of workers in who live in the Lewiston-Auburn region — where real estate is more affordable — get in their cars and drive to Portland — where there are more jobs. By DEIRDRE FULTON | March 23, 2011

The Pike gouges The Maine Turnpike Authority wants to pay between $34 million and $56 million to build a new toll plaza in York. Don't let that huge price tag fool you. By AL DIAMON | November 18, 2009

Politicians have left it to the people When tourists admire Maine's picturesque waterfronts, they aren't close enough to smell the barrels reeking with rotting lobster bait. By LANCE TAPLEY | March 18, 2009

Cost of living As if living in Maine wasn't expensive enough, on Sunday, tolls on the Maine Turnpike will increase for the second time in four years, and a year earlier than originally planned. By KATRINA BOTELHO + JEFF INGLIS | January 28, 2009

Looking back on state politics — and forward In the eight years I’ve covered the State House for the Portland Phoenix, I’ve been struck by the depressingly constant themes. By LANCE TAPLEY | December 21, 2007

While Baldacci takes lobbyists’ money for a trip, his wife bills taxpayers Lobbyists and campaign contributors are among the private interests paying for Governor John Baldacci’s upcoming trip to Asia, though the state forbids officials from accepting gifts. By LANCE TAPLEY | October 24, 2007

It’s not Maine, it’s the ads about Maine that bring tourists here Maine spends more than two million dollars a year advertising our scenery to out-of-staters. Visit Maine: Tourism promotion’s cozy—and now hot—world. By Lance Tapley By LANCE TAPLEY | September 20, 2006

Baldacci responds to abuses first revealed in the Phoenix Three weeks after the Portland Phoenix first reported that Maine Turnpike Authority officials had been treated to a $1342 dinner at a posh Portland restaurant, Governor John Baldacci has asked all so-called “independent” state agencies to adopt a code of ethics if they do not already have one. By JEFF INGLIS | August 23, 2006

Turnpike executives cruise past the state’s ethics rules On June 20, the Maine Turnpike Authority’s five top executives and four of their consultants had one of their “management dinners,” which the authority has held every month or so for eight years. By LANCE TAPLEY | August 03, 2006

Portland's public transit system gets around. So why are we still so tied to our cars? It is a bit dismaying that public transportation gets so little consideration here, particularly in Portland and its environs, where the buses are frequent and plentiful enough to make them a viable transportation choice. By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | April 12, 2006